Mumbai, October 20, 2016: In a pre-Diwali panic among customers, over three million debit cards of various banks are believed to be ‘tainted’ following a suspected security breach, and investigations have begun into the causes behind the security risks.

Several banks, including the State Bank Of India (SBI), have already started blocking their customers’ debit cards and re-issuing fresh ones to them free of cost.

An estimated 30 lakh debit cards issued by various public or private banks are said to be affected by a potential risk of data breach.

Debit or credit cards are prone to security issues when unauthorised parties gain access to the confidential data embedded on them, even as they are being swiped in an automatic teller machine (ATM).

In the current scenario, the SBI alone has blocked more than 600,000 debit cards while assuring that the malware-related security breach was reportedly detected in the non-SBI ATM network.

The move has been undertaken to ensure that customers’ confidential personal data is not compromised while debit or credit cards are swiped for various transactions.

One of the card network companies, MasterCard said on Thursday that its “own systems have not been breached”.

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“We are working on the investigations with the regulators, issuers, acquirers, global and local law enforcement agencies and third party payment networks to assess the current situation,” a MasterCard spokesperson said.

It has advised the consumers to review their account statements and activity, and if any unusual or fraudulent transactions are suspected, they should contact the concerned bank for more assistance.

Anxious customers have started enquiring with their banks over the seriousness of the problem, whether their personal data has leaked out and if that could lead to financial implications, especially with Diwali round the corner.

On Wednesday evening, the SBI said it has blocked cards of certain customers identified by the networks as a precautionary measure, though it did not reveal the exact number of cardholders who would be hit.

The SBI emphasised that its own systems have absolutely not been compromised and existing cardholders are not at any risk and can continue to use their cards as usual.

According to banking circles, several other banks have also experienced similar problems as a few ATMs have been hit by a malware which has a high potential to compromise customers data.

Official figures indicate that the SBI has over 20 crore active debit cards, besides 4.75 crore others of its associate banks.

In early September, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Mumbai, which controls all the retail payments systems in the country, had made it clear that there “is no compromise at NPCI and our systems are fully safe and secure.”

NPCI handles over 25 million transactions daily, including RuPay cards, of which more than 290 million are currently in circulation.(IANS)

Punjab National Bank is facing many setbacks from early this year Wikimedia Commons

By Ruchika Verma

Indian economic system has many loopholes and many citizens are aware of how to use them to their advantage

India has seen some of the biggest bank frauds in past few years which has damaged its economy

Money scams and bank frauds are becoming very common and it is now high-time that government do something about them

Every year India witness some of the biggest bank frauds which impact its Economy like a boulder. According to IIM-Bangalore, India lost Rs. 22,743 crores because of bank frauds between 2012 and 2016.

Indian Banks suffer heavy losses due to frauds every year. Wikimedia Commons

Likes of Vijay Mallya, Harshad Mehta and the recent addition, Nirav Modi have basically robbed Indian banks and Indian economy of several crores of rupees. Here is the list of biggest bank frauds in India which shook the economy and population in recent years.

S.K. Jain Fraud

In 2014, the chairman of the Syndicate Bank was suspended for increasing the credit limit of some companies for the bribe of Rs. 50 Lakhs. SK Jain was one of the youngest CMD of the Syndicate Bank, this money fraud by him was done just after a year of being appointed as the CMD of the bank. Syndicate Bank’s share prices suffered heavy losses after the fraud was revealed.

Harshad Mehta Scam

While talking about any money scam or bank scam, Harshad Mehta is the first name which comes to the mind of many. Harshad Mehta was a clever share broker who knew loopholes in Indian economy too well. The case dates back to the 90s in which this fraud worth INR 4000 crores came into the light. Stock Market crashed after this scam was revealed, in which fake BRs were used to get money out of various banks and manipulate the share price of companies.

Harshad Mehta was a brilliant man who misused his brilliance into committing one of the biggest bank frauds in the history of India. Wikimedia Commons

Bipin Vohra Fraud

In 2014, CBI filed a cased against the Kolkata-based industrialist Bipin Vohra and his other colleagues for allegedly cheating Central Bank of India. Bipin Vohra obtained a loan of Rs 139.05 crore using fake documents. Not only that, but he also used the money for purposes which weren’t stated while applying for the loan. Bipin Vohra lost a lot of his acquisitions due to this bank fraud of his.

One of the most recent Indian offenders, the UB group and Kingfisher Airlines owner has a debt of over INR 9000 crores which he has to pay back to various banks. He fled to London to escape the payments and penalisation, even after coming back, he hasn’t paid back anything as of yet. He was declared offender by the Union Bank Of India after which SBI and PNB followed suit.

Nilesh Parekh committed a fraud of Rs. 2,223 crores by cheating 25 banks which were under the State Bank Of India. Parekh was the promoter of Kolkata-based, Shree Ganesh Jeweller, he committed the fraud by diverting the loan money and he also shelled companies in other countries like Hong Kong, UAE and Singapore.

Another famous bank scam was the fraud done by the employees of Jain Infraprojects in collaboration with the Deputy General Manager of the Central Bank Of India. This bank fraud was done by diverting the funds for the purposes that weren’t mentioned in papers. This bank scam resulted in a loss of INR 212.30 crores for the bank.

The latest addition to the list, this one if one of the biggest bank frauds in India. The diamond merchant Nirav Modi committed a fraud of INR 11,450 crores with the Punjab National Bank. Modi used old LoU (letter of undertaking) issued to him by PNB, which were recycled and illegally issued to borrow money from other banks. He is also accused of committing a money fraud of Rs. 3000 crores with 17 other banks.